The downvotes all over this thread without response arguing anything really say it all, don't they?
dingus
joined 5 years ago
Hey, at least your conservatives aren't so dedicated to proving government doesn't work that they oust their own House speaker because he wouldn't shut down the government to prove government doesn't work.
Other than that, they're nearly as shitty. They're just not flat-out "we're breaking government to prove government is broken" yet. So far, they only seem to do that with the NHS. (I could be wrong, just looking from the outside, as a Yank)
I think a big part of the reason this was a theme in TNG was because it was supposed to get people in the '90's to reflect on whether the USA was actually the hero of the story that our history, politicians, and media tells us we are, or whether the idea that we're "more civilized" than other countries was a lie we spoon-fed ourselves.
I mean, it's an idea that sat with me most of my whole life. We are not the heroes of our stories, and a lot of the stories we tell ourselves are kind of a self-deception propaganda to justify why we have a higher quality of life at the expense of the rest of the world.
USA was at the time a country that promoted itself as one of the least violent and most civilized nations in the world. The US government was hiding behind "We don't cut criminals heads and hands off" as though we don't use psychological torture much more often on our own populace.
They can't really hide behind "our police aren't violent" so much anymore, because it was clearly always a lie.
These aren’t stopped clocks, these are creepy old dudes jerking off in the corner and they happen to own a watch.
I'm not sure I've ever seen a more accurate description, honestly.
This is definitely how I always saw it.
Q isn't arguing in good faith because he wants to see humans "rise above it" as it were. It isn't fair, but it is a quick way to reveal if their most base impulses will take over when under pressure.
Q sees human society in TNG as on the path to becoming better than they already are, but thinks they need some prodding to make it there.
It's almost Nietzchian in a way. He wants humanity to leave the worst aspects of our culture which are holding humanity behind, and that takes effort and self-reflection and consideration. Q is trying to kickstart that self-reflection, consideration, and effort. He knows Picard is a good man and can do it. He definitely has a "thing" for Picard and I think it is close to love. It is why he chooses him.
He wants Picard to no longer simply be a real mensch, but a real ubermensch.
Sisko doesn't realize its a test to make humanity better, and just sees a Nazi arguing in bad faith.
So he punched Q.
This chucklefuck is a year younger than me.
I read The Second Sex twenty fucking years ago. It was written over 70 years ago.
Like, they keep acting like gender is performative is a new idea when it's absolutely old as living fuck at this point.
How long do we keep giving them to accept that this is clearly true and has value as a way to discuss a variety of subjects, from social expectations of what cisgender women are "supposed to look like" to why gender and biological sex are different things (on top of biological sex being a lot more vague than conservatives tend to think. protip: intersex people exist!)?
How long do they get to hide behind "It was a different world back then" when books written about this very subject come from that ancient fucking world they're always referencing for why they're such bigoted fucking shitheels.
They shouldn't get to hide behind "it was a different world back then" when a number of us who are older than this dipshit are familiar with these ideas already because these ideas existed before we were fucking born.
Maybe their stupid asses should have picked up and read a fucking book (that wasn't Mein Kampf) in seventy fucking years.
Anyway, it is sickening and ridiculous this far into the future this is still being discussed like its a controversial issue and not clearly fucking painfully obviously the reality of the situation.
They could upgrade to a laser printer. Faster, but it will all be in black and white.
Singing Menacingly: Who wants to live forever...
I need this 24/7 maybe
Will the real Slim Shady please stand up and help Blue get a fucking clue?
...but do they call the wind Mariah?
I love the stock market. Line goes up and food becomes impossible to afford! Line goes down and we all lose our jobs! I love this fucking dumbshit criminal ponzi scheme of a system! /s
Gamestonk go BRRRRRRRR, NFTs are the future! /s
/s/s/s/s/s/s/s